TexMessage: Top 15 House recipients of Texas campaign money are all Republicans

Another day, another round of partisan slaps exchanged over the debt ceiling. (Speaking of slaps, did you see Rupert Murdoch’s wife take down her husband’s pie-wielding assaulter?)

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TEXclusive

With second quarter campaign finance reports freshly filed last week, Texas on the Potomac has taken a look at the House members to receive the most money from Texans. Some of the results might surprise you.

Texans care most about their fellow Texans, donating the most to the Lone Star State’s GOP incumbents. The top 15 recipients all are Texas Republicans, with Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Dallas, first at $233,350.

Maryland Republican Andy Harris is the top fund-raiser from out-of-state. The conservative freshman raked in $47,900. Texans also donated heavily to Michigan Rep. Dave Camp and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann.

Texas Tips

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★ AMERICANS FOR RICK PERRY TO OPEN IOWA OFFICE. Americans for Rick Perry, a 527 group that hopes to lay the groundwork for a presidential campaign by the Texas governor, will open its headquarters in West Des Moines this week, according to RealClearPolitics.

Most members of the pro-Perry group — composed of seven paid staffers and a few volunteers — were formerly a part of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s Iowa operation until they resigned as a group last month over differences with the aspiring GOP candidate.

★ GUTS, GAPS AND HANDCUFFS, OH MY! Members of Congress took shots at each other early Tuesday afternoon, as House debate on the GOP “cut, cap and balance” bill devolved to bouts of (legislation) name calling, according to The Hill.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, came up with her own name for the bill: The “tap dance, losers club and bust” bill. According to Jackson Lee, the GOP’s proposed legislation tap dances around the question of revenue, hurts people who need social services and busts the benefits of those in need.

Republican Congressman Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., took a shot at renaming President Obama’s plan for deficit reduction, calling it the “whistling past the graveyard plan.”

★ PERRY ON DEMAND: GOVERNOR BEAMS TO S.C. VIA SATELLITE. Rick Perry spoke to the South Carolina Renewal Project’s Pastors’ Policy Briefing yesterday morning from his location in Austin via satellite. The governor discussed his Aug. 6 prayer gathering with the group of about 650 Christian leaders. More>>>

★ RON PAUL FORESEES DEBT DEFAULT. Rep. Ron Paul Tuesday predicted the U.S. would default on its debt. “When a country is indebted to the degree that we’re indebted, the country always defaults,” he said on the House floor.

The Lake Jackson congressman also yesterday released his complete statement on the Cut, Cap and Balance Act. “I have never voted for a debt ceiling increase and I never will … It delays the inevitable, the day that one day will come when we cannot continue to run up enormous deficits and will be forced to pay our bills.”